Gaze

Sophomore year, June.

"He's totally checking him out." Zelo squints harder, nudging Chen in the ribs.

Chen leans forward, an eyebrow arched and nostrils flared. They watch as one of their regulars Daehyun stares at another one of their more familiar customers, Youngjae.

Daehyun melts into a soft smile as lint gets into Youngjae's eye and he blinks sharply, lips pursed. They're sitting four tables apart, both of them in the last row at the opposite ends of the café. Daehyun's been looking over ever since he came in, doing nothing but sipping his drink with his sketch book open.

"Dude, that's not checking him out. That's full-out ogling," Chen sniffs, quite frankly disturbed. L continues wiping the cups, paying no heed to the two spying baristas.

"He does it everytime he comes here. I've seen his face whenever that boy walks in; he looks like Jesus came down to bless him."

"Is he a stalker?" Zelo questions, biting his tongue as they continue dissecting the boy's movements.

Daehyun's smile fades as another boy enters, barging through to take the seat opposite Youngjae. Daehyun continues looking, longing etched into his face.

Chen clicks his tongue. "Can't you be more romantic? How about... madly in love?"

Chen sways his hands, veering his head to the side and looking out the window with a faraway gaze. L brushes past him and knocks Chen out of his dramatic stance.

Daehyun leans back, his shoulders falling. His pencil tip gently meets the paper, eyes darting upwards to gaze at Youngjae and resuming his sketching.

"What's he drawing?" Zelo huffs while L nonchalantly walks up to serve the newly arrived customer.

Chen eggs Zelo out of the counter. "Quick, go clean up that table beside him and see."

Zelo nods firmly and darts out with lightning speed. L arches his brows.

"You just wanted him to do the cleaning, didn't you?"

"Shush, L. I would never do such a thing," Chen proclaims despite the pleased look on his face as Zelo clears up the rubbish.

L narrows his eyes. "Can you stop calling me L? I told you already, it's-"

"Linda, Lola, Layla, whatever," Chen snickers, priding himself on how he'd deliberately lent L an invisible ink pen when his ran out of ink. They'd been forced to come up with nicknames for themselves because their boss Jaejoong was so enamoured with his own, Hero, which Chen thought was stupid. L, or more appropriately, Myungsoo, wrote the first letter before his pen stopped working. Needless to say, Jaejoong was seriously weirded out by his choice in names.

L opens his mouth to protest but Chen waves him off hastily. "Look!" He hisses, Zelo peering over a concentrating Daehyun's shoulders. His eyes widen to the point Chen's sure they will drop out. Zelo dives back behind the counter, expression of shock still on his face.

"Oh my god. He was drawing him." Zelo dumps the dirty dishes into the sink and grabs Chen by the shoulders, shaking him violently. A passing customer sends them a look of askance.

"Daehyun was drawing Youngjae. It's official; he's a stalker."

"You mean really sad loser, like god. Was the drawing nice, though? Wait, aren't they from the same school? Do they even know each other? Has Youngjae noticed him?" Chen shakes his head, doing his faraway gaze again. "So many questions, so little answers."

"Yeah, Daehyun drew it really well. Like wowza," Zelo recounts, framing Youngjae by the window with his fingers. "Do you think he's been drawing Youngjae all the time he's been here? He always brings that sketch book."

"Does he seriously have nothing better to do on a Sunday morning?" Chen inquires bluntly.

Zelo slaps him on the head. "Hey, you were the one telling me to be more romantic."

Zelo rests his hands on the counter, sighing. "What if Daehyun's been coming here all this time for Youngjae? Spending his money on overpriced, gross capitalist coffee just to watch a boy for hours. God damn, that's a really bad case of lovesick."

"Uh, did you just insult your own coffee?" Chen snorts.

"Nope, I was talking about yours." Zelo darts away before Chen can strangle him.

"Should you really be addressing them like that when you don't know them personally?" Zelo brushes L off, muttering about both of them being his eventual seniors anyway.

L folds his arms and makes a face. "You're younger than them-"